This all came about because the opposition Democratic Alliance brought a case before a Pretoria court, demanding that the president face charges. Mr Zuma lodged an appeal, but lost it.

13 December 2017: Two rulings, one bad day

First of all, a Pretoria court ordered Mr Zuma to set up a judicial inquiry into corruption claims against him and his associates, which he eventually did in January.

The inquiry was one of the recommendations made by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog to curb state influence-peddling, which the president had tried to challenge.

Judge Dunstan Mlambo described Mr Zuma’s attempt to challenge the rulings as “ill-advised” and an abuse of the judicial process.

Then, separately, a judge ruled the president had abused the judicial process by trying to block a report on corruption.

The figures that keep appearing in allegations against Mr Zuma are the wealthy Indian born Gupta family, who are accused of using their relationship with the president to influence cabinet appointments and obtain lucrative government contracts.

The Guptas and Mr Zuma deny any wrongdoing but the allegations will not go away.

18 December 2017: Enter Mr Zuma’s Successor

the race to succeed Mr Zuma after 10 years as head of the ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa- South Africa’s deputy president- came out on top . He took over the party at a time it was losing popular support under Mr Zuma.

He campaigned as the anti-Zuma candidate, promising to target corruption. His victory put him in a position of strength over the president, and made him a leading candidate to succeed him.

And now…?

Mr Zuma’s presidency has – at most – 14 months left to run. He can’t run again – South Africa has a two-term limit – and the next elections are scheduled for April 2019.

In truth, it may be over even sooner: since Mr Ramaphosa took over the reins of the ANC, the pressure on Mr Zuma has grown considerably.

The ANC’s National Executive Committee had been expected to make a final decision on his future on Wednesday, but that meeting was postponed after “fruitful” discussions were held with him.

Those discussions came after Mr Zuma’s state of the union address, scheduled for Thursday, was cancelled in an unprecedented move.

And on Tuesday, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, for the second time, urged Mr Zuma to step down.

South Africa had seen “systematic looting” under Mr Zuma’s ruleand he “must go sooner rather than later”, the foundation said in a statement.

After being such a key player in South African politics for so long, his presidency is now staggering to a fractious, and perhaps humiliating, end, says the BBC’s Andrew Harding in Johannesburg.-BBC